Hacker Linked To ISIS Sentenced For 20 Years

A hacker linked with ISIS has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for leaking ‘personally identifiable information’ (PII) of thousands of US military and government personnel.

Ardit Ferizi, a 20-year-old citizen of Kosovo known by his hacking moniker “Th3Dir3ctorY,” was sentenced in a US federal court in Virginia.

The source seeking anonymity said,”22-year-old Ardit Ferizi, a resident of Kosovo, was sentenced to 20-years in prison for providing support to ISIS and accessing a protected computer without authorization. He obtained information and supported transferred to the ISIS.”

“Ferizi first began supporting ISIS in April 2015, when he provided support to the outfit by administrating a website called Penvid.com, which hosted ISIS propaganda videos. During this time Ferizi received numerous messages on Twitter criticizing ISIS, to which he frequently responded defending the outfit. In one instance, when faced with criticism about the now-executed be-header Jihadi John, he tweeted that the group ‘never killed someone without reason’,” the source added.

“This case represents the first time we have seen the very real and dangerous national security cyber threat that results from the combination of terrorism and hacking,” said John Carlin, assistant attorney general for national security.

“This was a wake-up call not only to those of us in law enforcement, but also to those in private industry,” his statement read.

According to Ferizi’s lawyer, the information provided included “names, email addresses, passwords, some phone numbers, and some general locations” and was meant to be used for propaganda. The hacker’s lawyer argued that “this information was neither directed at one individual or a group of individuals, nor specific enough to reveal the address, workplace, or location of any of the individuals whose names were revealed.”

Ferizi pleaded guilty on June 15th, roughly 8 months after Malaysian police arrested him on the US’ behalf.